Without giving too much away, I think this is one of my favorite chapters of this story. But it's not the auther's job to tell you how good(Or bad) his work is, it's your job; so I hope this will satisfy you just as much!
Enjoy and please review!
Hiro didn't exactly remember how the previous night had ended; and he sure didn't remember how it ended with him falling asleep against the book shelf near a bed which wasn't his own.
Upon waking up that morning, Hiro blinked in surprise as he didn't see the room from the same angle he usually did every other morning. Not only did he realized he apparently fell asleep while sitting, he also quickly jumped to the conclusion he was in Tadashi's side of the room. Hiro also realized that he didn't spent the night alone as he felt something sleeping in his arms. It wasn't furry or small enough to be Mochi, his and Cass's cat, which made Hiro realize it wasn't something he was holding, but someone.
Looking down at his body, Hiro saw Marys sleeping against his chest. Her arms were still hugging him in the same position as last night and he was still holding her the same way as the night before.
Hiro was shocked at the situation he was, somehow, in. The girl he just realized yesterday he had a thing for was sleeping with her head on his chest. He heard stories about how fantasies and dreams flood the person once he realizes he develops a liking to a girl and vice versa. Yet, he seems to have already achieved the real deal with none of the dreams or fantasies.
The young teen had to admit, he was enjoying the moment very much. What he told Baymax yesterday about how he didn't want the few moments Marys hugged him to end was proven true as was smiling wide at the situation he was in. The fact that Marys also looked so adorable while she was sleeping, with her mouth hanging open and the few snores escaping from it, also lifted Hiro's spirit.
However, once Hiro noticed the time and realized he had actually over-slept; he started thinking about how awkward the situation could be in just a few minutes. What if Cass would come up to see if they're awake and see them like this? What will happen if Wamu would come up to see how they're doing? Or worst, what will happen if…
As constant questions were running through Hiro's head regarding possible occurrences, a sound from reality cut down his line of thought and brought him to look at the yawning girl in his arms, who seemed to be waking up at the moment.
Marys woke up to the un-familiar feeling of sleeping against something which wasn't a bed. She also realized that she was holding something which felt too solid in order to be any kind of pillow. Looking up slowly, Marys saw Hiro staring at her with wide and either scared or surprised eyes.
As he saw her analyzing the situation in her mind as to what is going on, Hiro could have sworn he froze for a few seconds. What will she say? Will she be mad at him? Does she feel the same as he feels right now about the entire situation? While Hiro was looking at her, Marys was sending the exact same look at him with questions of her own filling her thoughts. One question however, was filling her thoughts the most; did Hiro feel the same towards her as she did towards him?
Both young teenagers looked at each other for what seemed like minutes, their cheeks becoming redder and redder with every second of silence that clicked off the clock. Eventually, both reacted at the same time as they slowly backed away from each other.
"I'm… uh… sorry about this." Hiro was the first to speak that morning, not exactly sure what he was apologizing for as he remembered the situation of him comforting her about the recent discovery of her father's death, but it was better to play it safe.
"You have nothing to apologize for." Marys replied while hiding her blush. "You made me feel a bit better last night and it also looks like you were serious about always being there for me." Hiro nervously chuckled at her joke and Marys even managed a soft smile of her own. "But seriously Hiro, thanks for being here last night for me even though I told you to stay away. I really needed that."
Hiro smiled at her with a bit less nervousness than before, and with lesser red cheeks. "You're welcome."
Once the conversation between the two ended on a happy note, Hiro and Marys dressed up for the day and went down to the café area where they found Cass and Wamu already up and talking to each other over a cup of coffee. Both teens greeted them good morning and joined the conversation. Hiro shared his sadness about the discovery of Wamu's husband's death with the red-headed woman, who thanked him for his concern.
Just then, Cass told Hiro and Marys that she is taking Wamu out for a casual girl hang out in order to make her old friend feel better, and because that's something they loved to do when they were younger. With no way or reason to argue with the decision, Cass and Wamu left the café shortly after finishing their coffee, Cass leaving Hiro instructions regarding the food she left for him to warm up.
Once the two friends were out for their day in the city, Marys was the first to talk. "So, what are our plans for the day?" She asked, seeming eager to do something fun today.
Hiro was taken by surprise by that question, but he managed to quickly shake that off before figuring out this was probably the right time to talk to Marys about what they are. "Uhh… there's a lot we could do." He told her before taking a deep breath. "But before we go over our options, there's something I want to ask you."
"Okay…" Marys commented; not sure where he was going with that tone he was using. "What is it?"
"Well, you see… I was thinking…"
Hiro's sentence was cut off by the sound of a phone ringing. It turned out the phone was Marys's and she was checking who was calling her. "It's one of my friends from home. Do you mind if I'll take this?" She asked.
Hiro nodded at her. "Go right ahead, I'm not going anywhere." He said, even though inside of him he was really annoyed by the interference.
"Thanks." Marys smiled before picking up the call. Hiro just now realized how much he liked her smile. It wasn't wide but wasn't tiny either, just the right size so he could tell how happy she was about something.
After a few minutes of talking to her friend, Marys eventually ended the call and sat back near the table Hiro was at. "Sorry about that. My friend needed help with her mom and so she decided to call me for advice."
"Was that the Alexandra chick you said always calls you for tips?" Hiro asked, remembering Marys mentioning this girl every once in a while during their online talks.
"Yes." Marys sighed. "I thought I'll get some freedom from that while being here, but apparently even a city line can't stop her from asking my advice." She wondered out loud before returning to the original subject they were talking about. "So, you wanted to ask me something?"
Hiro's eyes suddenly snapped at the question, realizing that his chance has arrived. "Uh… yeah! You see, ever since…"
Suddenly, a loud sound which resembled a door being knocked on was heard. Looking at the door to the café, Hiro and Marys noticed a man which looked like he was in his twenties knocking on the door. "Will you excuse me for a moment?" Hiro asked, receiving a gesture from Marys to go ahead and see what this guy wants. After opening the door to the café, Hiro looked up at the man. "Can I help you?"
"Yes. Why aren't you open yet?" The man asked. "This is almost noon and by that time you should be open." He said, sounding a bit aggressive.
"Sir, today's Saturday. We are closed." Hiro told the man, who took out his phone in order to check for the date. Once he saw Hiro was right, he returned the phone to his pocket.
"Oh, uh, I am so sorry… I'll come back tomorrow." And with that, the man left the establishment.
Hiro looked at the man for a few seconds, trying to register what just happened before he closed the door. "Does this happen often?" Hiro heard Marys ask from behind him, also surprised by that sudden misunderstanding while also laughing at it.
"Actually, I think this was a first…" Hiro answered after taking a few seconds to think if this has happened before. "Anyway, what I was about to say is…" Hiro suddenly closed his eyes in what appeared to be annoyance as a knock was heard on the regular door to the building. "Who could that be?" He almost shouted as he headed to see who was at the door, and who denied him the opportunity to ask Marys a question for the third time in less than half an hour.
At the door were Fred and Honey Lemon; half understandable because they knew about Saturday protocol, but half wired because what were they doing at the café without calling first?
"Hey guys, what's up?" Hiro asked his friends as Marys showed up behind him.
"Can you tell this guy that filling my chemical balls with mind-control gas is not only dangerous, but also impossible to accomplish?" Honey begged Hiro, pointing to Fred as the guy who needed the convincing.
Hiro and Marys looked at each other with questioning looks before changing their direction back to their company. "Actually…" Both started to say at the same time.
"I knew it!" Fred declared before the two fourteen year olds even began the sentence. "They are completely going to disregard you Honey, and say I'm right and that it is possible!"
"Possible, yes…" Hiro said.
"Dangerous as well." Marys added. "If you intend to work with a mind controlling gas without proper protection you may get affected by it yourself. If you do and you're not being given a commend for a fair amount of time, your brain could be severely damaged from it."
Hiro nodded at Marys's explanation, causing Honey to sigh. "Now he's going to bother me all summer to work on that once we head back to college." The tall girl said.
"Honey, I'm offended." Hiro suddenly said, causing everyone to look at him. "You forgot I have somewhat of a lab right here in the garage?" He asked.
"You have a lab in the garage!?" Marys suddenly piped in, not being aware of said lab. "How come you didn't mention it or showed it to me last time!?"
"I took you to my lab at the institute. I thought it will be pointless to show you the not-so-advanced one." Hiro explained, causing Marys to shake her head and roll her eyes.
"For such a smart guy you can make some dumb decisions, Hiro." She said before running pass Honey and Fred in order to get to the garage.
"She thinks you're smart, little guy." Fred told Hiro with a big smile. "I say you have a good chance if you want to ask her out."
"That's what I'm trying to do, but everyone keeps bugging me when I'm about to ask her about it!" Hiro half shouted in annoyance and half whispered so that Marys wouldn't hear.
"Oh my… We are so sorry, Hiro!" Honey put a comforting hand on his shoulder. "We didn't know…"
"Never mind that now. Let's show Marys the lab, let her have her fun with your argument and I'll get to it as soon as it will be done…"
Marys has been so impressed with Hiro's lab that she had actually started researching the debate which came up between Honey and Fred. The four of them ended up working on that little idea for more than a few hours. When Honey and Fred noticed how late it got, they decided it was time for them to head back to their homes so that they will have to time to get ready for their patrol later tonight. Once they left and only Hiro and Marys were at the garage, Hiro decided it was time to finally pop the question.
"So, Marys? About what I wanted to ask…"
"Can it wait for a few more seconds, Hiro? I think I'm actually pretty close to crack this idea!" She said with an excited tone, enjoying the fact she could have worked like her father did in his life.
Hiro was somewhat annoyed being denied the opportunity yet again, but he didn't want Marys to stop her supposed breakthrough for a question that could be delayed… even if it was delayed for more times than necessary.
"Yeah… of course. I'll be in the room if you'll need me and I'll lock the door so you could have your peace while working." Hiro informed her before closing the garage door and heading back to his room, frustrated. "First her friend, then that idiot and now she's busy with a random idea Honey and Fred sprung out of nowhere!" Hiro muttered to himself as he went up the stairs to his room. "No wonder I've never seen Tadashi ask a girl out; whenever he was about to ask one everything probably stood in his way and he just gave up…" The frustrated teen threw himself at his chair once he arrived at the room, only instead of it rolling towards the computer, it fell to the floor with Hiro on it.
After screaming and groaning in pain, the familiar white and round shape of Baymax appeared in the room. Without any other introduction, Baymax made his way towards Hiro and picked him up from his legs before setting him down on the floor in the correct angle. "My scanners indicate that you have sustained no injuries from the fall." The robot said once Hiro was back on his feet.
"Great. Thanks, buddy." Hiro replied with a forced smile before he picked up his chair and sat on it while facing away from his robotic friend.
"Hiro, your neurotransmitter levels are low. You seem to feel stress and frustration." Baymax informed.
Hiro sighed at the reminder, fully aware of what has been causing him to feel like that. "I know. I was trying to tell Marys that I like her and ask her about the kiss a few months ago and maybe ask her out but… every time I try to talk to her about it something happens that prevents me from doing it." He let go of his emotional baggage, breathing heavily as a result of his fast talking.
"Will letting Marys know about your feelings towards her help improve your emotional state?" Baymax asked upon hearing Hiro's breakdown.
"Of course it will. She's in the garage now, I just need to pass the time until she finishes what she's doing and then it will be the time to ask her. No running away this time!" After convincing himself that the time to tell her is near, Hiro started browsing through the Internet in an attempt to kill said time.
A minute or two later, Hiro could have sworn he heard the garage door being opened. Believing Marys was done with her research; Hiro took a few deep breaths in order to mentally prepare himself for asking her out. When he turned around, however, he noticed that Baymax wasn't in the room.
"Baymax?" Hiro asked, knowing that he hasn't deactivated the robot after their conversation. All of the sudden Hiro remembered how Baymax asked him about Marys and how he said letting her know would make him feel better. Realizing that Baymax was the one who opened the garage door in order to talk to Marys, Hiro quickly got up from his chair and started running outside. "How does he keep doing that!?" He asked as he hurried down the stairs, almost losing balance and falling.
Once Hiro reached the garage, he saw Baymax standing with his back to him and he could have heard his own voice talking. "Every time I try to talk to her about it something happens that prevents me from doing it."
Hiro stared at the robot with wide eyes, an open mouth and red cheeks, not believing this was happening to him. Once the recording was over, Baymax turned around and started heading out of the garage, stopping in front of Hiro. "I have informed Marys that you like her and would like to talk to her about the kiss she gave you. Are you satisfied with your care?"
Hiro just stared at Baymax for a few seconds, struggling to find words to describe what he was feeling before his eyes landed on Marys, who also seemed to be as shocked and embarrassed by the entire thing as he was. "I'm satisfied with my care…" Hiro managed to mumble, making Baymax head back into the house and into Hiro's room where his charging station was.
For a few long seconds, Hiro looked anywhere but at Marys. What could he say? She knew everything, just like that. He didn't even tell her himself, it was Baymax who did and that was kind of embarrassing in itself.
"So…" Marys suddenly talked, causing Hiro's red face to turn from the floor towards her. "You think we need to talk?" She asked, not sure what to say about the entire situation herself. On the one hand, she was happy to know Hiro felt the same as she did about the whole thing; on the other hand, hearing it from a robot and not the actual person was a bit wired.
"I do…" Hiro nodded, gathering some air before continuing on with what he had to say. "Listen, ever since your previous visit, more specifically the end of it, I started to get the feeling like there was something there… here…" He mentioned to the space between them. "When we started chatting online and using those nicknames and… I don't know, something about talking to you makes me feel comfortable. And then you showed up here again and it was just yesterday when I realized that I actually like you as more than just a friend. I wanted to tell you all of this in the morning but it never came to fruition and Baymax… Well you know."
Hiro took a deep breath once he realized that everything was now out there; but when Marys didn't respond, he started to fear that she might not have seen him as more than a friend after all, even if she showed direct signs for it and everyone told him it was obvious. "I'm sorry. You don't have to act differently if you don't feel the same about me and you don't have to feel bad about it. I'll be fine, just promise me that we'll still be friends…"
Marys couldn't believe what she had just heard. True, Honey and Go-Go told her that Hiro did like her as more than a simple friend and Baymax's recordings also played their parts, but now it came from the guy himself which made her feel both surprised, but yet amazed at the same time. And he thinks she doesn't like him back? Boy was he wrong. She had to do something, let him know that she feels the same. As soon as Hiro turned to leave for his room, Marys ran up to him and grabbed his hand, causing him to look at her with pleasant surprise in his eyes. Both smiled at each other for a few seconds, knowing what was about to happen.
"At eight?" Both asked at the same time, their small smiles still visible. "Ice-cream?" They said at the same time again, their smiles growing bigger as the coincidence continued. "We'll go after the patrol?" They asked again, this time the smiles were really big and despite none of their questions being actually answered, they had all the answers they needed.
"It's a date." Both smiled at each other with one final confirmation before Marys headed back to her small research and Hiro returned to his room.
Little did they know that both of them punched the air while shouting "Yes" at pretty much the same time after that.
I don't have much to add about this one, I pretty much said everything I had to at the beginning AN.
Hope you enjoyed the chapter! Waiting to hear what you guys have to say in the reviews!
